Tag Archives: Love Without Boundaries

Jun1427

It always warms our hearts when organizations in China pull together to help kids in need.

Over the past year, three children with vision issues who were previously in LWB programs have moved to the care of Bethel China. Bethel provides highly specialized care for children with vision issues of all severities in a loving, home-like environment. We shared the stories of these three kids shortly after they moved to Bethel. We recently received an update, so we thought you might like to see how well these kids are doing. Read more.

Jun1417

Joseph is ten years old and lives with his foster family. He often plays sports with his friends after school. Joseph wants to learn to play ping pong and has been practicing his exercises to enter a gymnastics competition. Joseph’s interest and progress in physical activities and sports is remarkable considering that he had spinal surgery for a meningoencephalocele. He hasn’t let this challenge slow him down one bit. Read more.

Jun1413

Jaden came home January 2013 at the age of 3 ½. He celebrated his 5th birthday just a couple of weeks ago, and last week we celebrated his 500th day in our family. He has really thrived at home.

It has only been recently that he has started talking a little bit more about his time as an orphan, and the most common way he describes it revolves around feeling “alone.” He tells us “I am very happy that you came to get me” and “I’m glad you didn’t leave me alone any longer.” He did tell us once “I’m glad you got me, but why did it take you so long to find me?” … which was heart-warming and heart-breaking at the same time.

Today’s blog was written by Tim Sanford, an “LWB Dad” who adopted Christopher. Read more.

Apr1409

While on my recent trip to China, I was able to visit several of the foster care programs we run there. Currently LWB has foster care in 18 Chinese cities, and we are always looking to expand to new locations because we believe so strongly that children do best being raised in quality family care.

At every location, I would visit both the local orphanage and then children in home care. Again and again, I was struck by the developmental differences between the two groups of children. Babies need families – pure and simple. And now, with the vastly changing population of orphaned children who almost all have special needs, I believe it is more important than ever to get orphaned children out into the local communities so that everyone can come to understand how amazing these kids are. Read more.

Apr1407

Over the last eleven years, more and more orphanages have trusted us and depended on us to help their children born with medical needs. In these cases, we first gather all of the important information about the child, have our medical advisors review their chart, and then we present their case on our website and advocate for funding. Once a child’s surgery is funded, we immediately make arrangements for them to move to the appropriate hospital.

However, some babies arrive into this world with conditions that cannot wait to be funded. Children born with anal atresia, for example, often will pass away if they do not receive surgery within 48 hours of being found. Read more.

Feb1407

Two-year-old LuLu is the newest student in our small but wonderful Believe in Me school in Liupanshui. On her first day, just a few weeks ago, we heard that she is a very timid child, who was nervous being in the classroom and would not speak much.

Feb1406

Every child deserves to know the joy of learning. For many children born with special needs in China, this opportunity is not available to them. For many reasons, these children are often unable to attend public school and for them education is only a dream.

For 34 very special children, that dream is about to become a reality. Thanks to the incredible generosity of some very special LWB supporters, their education is about to begin. Read more.

Feb1404

Rob is a new arrival to LWB’s Anhui Healing Home (AHH), but he is not new to LWB. Rob just arrived from LWB’s Starbridge Healing Home, where he put on his first five pounds in just a couple of short months. Sometimes our healing home bed planning involves moving babies to the home that is nearest to the best medical care for their needs. Rob swapped with another baby for exactly that reason, and we are all delighted to welcome him at AHH. Read more.

Feb1403

One of my wise friends posted the following on her Facebook page last week: “Some days it seems like bad news yells and good news only whispers.” Isn’t that the truth? Our society LOVES a good scandal, and bad news is the stuff of major headlines. For a topic like international adoption – trafficking, rehoming, and corruption will always make the New York Times. Parents trying their best, kids just being kids, and the thousands of successful families formed through adoption rarely get a mention.

Under my friend’s post, someone had left a wonderful comment. It said, “Remember to listen to the whispers.” I think we forget at times to stop and do just that. There are such terribly sad stories each day in the news, both in our backyard and overseas, and so it’s easy to think that everything about our world is going to heck in a hand basket. I’m grateful that I’m in a position with my work to see that there are countless small miracles and loving people out there that unfortunately the world just doesn’t ever hear about. Parents and children and volunteers and donors – going about their days as quiet heroes, trying to do the very best they can to lift each other up.

Many of you might remember when we posted about a wonderful boy named Ben who needed an adoptive home. He had been born with cerebral palsy, and he had watched almost all of his friends get chosen by families. He had reached the age of 13, just one year short of aging out of the adoption system forever, when a family in the US knew he was supposed to be their son. Ben was adopted just days before his 14th birthday. I recently got this photo from his mom now that he has been home for six months – and oh yes, I immediately burst into happy tears. Read more.